Contents

History

Before the establishment of a Greek Archdiocese in the Western Hemisphere there were numerous communities of Greek Orthodox Christians. The first Greek Orthodox community in the Americas was founded in New Orleans, Louisiana by a small colony of Greek merchants. History also records that on June 26, 1768, the first Greek colonists landed at St. Augustine, Florida, the oldest city in America. The first permanent community was founded in New York City in 1892, today’s Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and the See of the Archbishop of America. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America was incorporated in 1921 and officially recognized by the State of New York in 1922.

In 1908, the Church of Greece received authority over the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese but in 1922, Patriarch Meletios IV transferred the archdiocese back to the jurisdiction of the Church of Constantinople. In 1996, the one Archdiocese was split by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, dividing the administration of the two continents into four parts (America, Canada, Central America, and South America) and leaving only the territory of the United States for the Archdiocese of America.

Recent History

In recent years, there has been much tension between the Archdiocese and the current Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew I, especially regarding the level of autonomy the former has with regard to the latter. One of the important incidents in this ongoing tension was the (allegedly forced) retirement in 1996 of Archbishop Iakovos after his leadership during the Ligonier Meeting in 1994, where many of the Orthodox hierarchs in America came together to begin the formation of a unified Orthodox Church of America. Iakovos was replaced with Archbishop Spyridon, whose 'tempestuous' tenure as archbishop lasted only 3 years, seeing his (again allegedly... forced) retirement in 1999 and replacement by the current Archbishop, Demetrios.

A strong movement of laity in the Archdiocese has been engaged in the tensions with Constantinople, as well, especially a particular group known as Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL), which includes some of the wealthiest members of the Archdiocese. In 2004, 35 plaintiffs unsuccessfully sued Archbishop Demetrios and the Greek Archdiocese in an attempt to force it to invalidate the 2003 charter granted by Constantinople; their lawsuit stated that the Greek hierarchy had imposed the rewritten charter without approval from delegates at the national Clergy-Laity Congress, violating the terms of the 1978 charter. The main aim of the suit was to attempt to gain more autonomy from the Church of Constantinople, especially regarding the choice of the American Archdiocese's primate.

The suit met with condemnation by the Greek hierarchy in America, which stated that the plaintiffs had "sued Christ Himself" (a quote from Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago). It was eventually dismissed by the Supreme Court of the State of New York, on grounds that the Greek Archdiocese was hierarchical and therefore acting within its proper bounds, that the courts did not have the authority to intervene in such matters.

This conflict is far from over, and OCL continues to organize resistance to what it regards as papal pretensions on the part of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Organization

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is composed of an Archdiocesan District (New York City) and eight metropolises: New Jersey, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Boston and Denver. It is governed by the Archbishop and the Eparchial Synod of Bishops. The Synod of Bishops is headed by the archbishop and comprised of the bishops who oversee the ministry of the metropolises. It has all the authority and responsibility which the Church canons provide for a provincial synod.

Seal of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America

There are about 540 parishes, 800 priests and approximately 440,000 to 2 million faithful in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, depending on the source of reports and the counting method being used.[1] The number of parishes in the Greek Archdiocese rose by about 9% in the decade from 1990 to 2000, and membership growth has largely been in terms of existing members having children.[2]

The Archdiocese receives within its ranks and under its spiritual aegis and pastoral care Orthodox Christians, who either as individuals or as organized groups in Metropolises and Parishes have voluntarily come to it and which acknowledge the ecclesiastical and canonical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.